Into the interior

The hiking trail leading into the heart of Yakushima Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, features an abandoned logging railroad track. It's a flat, easygoing walk until the path heads up the mountainside.

Wilson's Stump

A Google Street View hiker pauses by Wilson's Stump, a cedar that was felled in the 1500s and named for English plant collector E.H. Wilson in the 1900s. It is believed to have been some 3,000 years old and had a base circumference of over 100 feet. The wood was apparently used in the construction of Hoko-ji temple in Kyoto.

Yakusugi

Yakushima's interior is known for its yakusugi, a type of cryptomeria (Japanese cedar) that is more than a thousand years old. The high rainfall on the island allows these cedars to live longer than others in Japan.

The granddaddy of them all

In the background is Yakushima's Jomon Sugi, an 83-foot-tall cedar with a trunk measuring 53 feet around.

Estimated to be anywhere from 2,000 to 7,000 years old, Jomon Sugi is the oldest tree on Yakushima, the oldest conifer in Japan, and a destination for thousands of hikers who visit Yakushima every year.